ANNUAL REPORT 2016

Academic Open Access Publishing since 1996 MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 3

4 MESSAGE FROM THE CEO 18 CONFERENCES IN 2016 18 Viruses 2016 6 MDPI AT A GLANCE 19 1st Basel Sustainability Forum on Energy

7 2016 KEY FIGURES 20 SPECIAL ISSUE REPRINT BOOKS 8 Papers Published in MDPI Journals by Region RELEASED IN 2016 9 Major Journals Growth Based on Articles Published 21 CONTRIBUTING TO THE OPEN 9 Growth Based on Articles Published ACCESS INITIATIVE 9 Indexing 10 Publication by Subject Area 22 CONFERENCES IN 2017 10 Open Access Publishers – Market Share in 2016 22 World Sustainability Forum 2017, 10 Quality of Service WSF 2017 (Cape Town) 11 Geographical Distribution of Authors and Reviewers 22 International Symposium on Frontiers in 11 Overview of Access to MDPI.com Molecular Sciences 2017, ISFMS 2017 (Basel) 22 International Symposium on Sensor Science, I3S2017 12 NEW JOURNALS IN 2016 (Barcelona) 22 Molecules 13 SUSY 22 Symmetry 13 MDPI Susy – A Complete Submission System 22 2nd Basel Sustainability Forum 23 Photos from World Sustainability Forum 2017, WSF 14 PARTNERING WITH INSTITUTIONS 2017 AND SOCIETIES 14 Institutional Membership 24 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 14 Partnerships with Societies AT MDPI

16 JOURNAL DEVELOPMENT 25 ABOUT MDPI 17 Journal Rankings by Quartile in Science Citation Index Expanded ( SCIE ) 26 STAY CONNECTED MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 4

MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

MDPI turned 20 in 2016: Twenty years of academic conferences, we awarded 60 scientific prizes, and we publishing, twenty years of open access, and twenty years organized two new scientific conferences, Viruses 2016 of hard and dedicated work for scholars and scholarly and the 1st Basel Sustainability Forum on Energies in communities. Basel. Furthermore, we launched our multidisciplinary preprint initiative at Preprints.org to follow our vision to The year 2016 was a strong and very successful one for disseminate science at its earliest stage. Since its launch MDPI and our employees with stable overall growth in the in July 2016, over 1000 scientific papers have been posted. number of published papers, number of staff, number of journals and in revenues. We also took our 20 year company anniversary as an occasion to boldly focus on our mission to facilitate As scholarly publishing is shifting from subscription the dissemination of research output. We have been to open access, the academic publishing industry is developing our publishing services, using our 20 years' looking towards submissions in open access form. This experience to support learned societies and university transformation establishes continuous global access presses. We simplified our submission tools for authors, to knowledge and science, and supports researchers in reviewers and editors, making the publication experience their daily studies. We are proud to have been part of this enjoyable and publication times shorter. We also invested successful trend over the past 20 years. effort, knowledge and resources in dedicated projects and partnerships with our peers. In 2016, MDPI has taken on a new dimension, establishing itself as one of the leaders in open access publishing. These achievements were only made possible thanks We grew 35 % and we reached our goals by publishing to the dedicated work of our editorial, production and more than 23,000 peer-reviewed articles. Four of our communication teams in Basel, Beijing, Wuhan, Barcelona most established journals, Sensors, IJMS, Molecules and and Belgrade. Sustainability, now rank in the top 200 journals in number of articles published per year. Two of these journals, MDPI proudly joined the UN Global Compact in November Sensors and Molecules, reached the incredible milestone 2016 to demonstrate our commitment to sustainable of publishing their 10,000th paper this year. Altogether, management and responsibility towards our employees. these achievements put us in second place on the podium As a global publishing house, we see it as our duty to amongst pure open access publishers in 2016. develop responsible practices that will ensure a bright future for our company and for our planet. Therefore, we In 2016, we aimed to strengthen our relations with have committed ourselves to the ten principles associated scientific communities, serving their needs and trying to with the Compact, and will focus on contributing to the acknowledge the unwavering commitment of our Editors- following defined goals: in-Chief, Editorial Board Members, guest editors, authors and reviewers over the past twenty years. Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning. We provided administrative support to 15,700 academic editors, we sponsored 337 scientific events, we provided Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women travel grants to 52 of our Editors-in-Chief to attend and girls. MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 5

Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.

The year 2017 will be a very ambitious and challenging one for MDPI and for open access globally. The Berlin13 conference will be an important milestone for open access where global players and decision makers come together and join forces to set the roadmap of the OA2020 target. I definitely look forward to contributing to the discussions and joint efforts.

I also look forward to strengthening MDPI’s position amongst other open access publishers by continuing our hard and dedicated work to support scholarly communities.

Dr. Franck Vazquez Chief Executive Officer MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 6

MDPI AT A GLANCE

biomimetics

biomimetics

hv

hv hv 68 172 SPECIAL ISSUE REPRINTS PUBLISHED AND 394 PEER-REVIEWED OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS COPIES SOLD IN 2016

MEMBER INSTITUTE

INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM REACHED OUR PLATFORM FOR POSTING EARLY STAGE 153 MEMBERS RESEARCH BEFORE PEER-REVIEW

AN OPEN PLATFORM FOR SCHOLARLY EXCHANGE AND COLLABORATION. PARTICIPATE OR SET UP YOUR OWN A COMPLETE SUBMISSION SYSTEM FOR SCHOLARLY CONFERENCE IN ANY SCIENTIFIC FIELD. CREATE YOUR PUBLISHING OWN DISCUSSION GROUPS

A FREE SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE DATABASE INCLUDING 224 THE LATEST PUBLISHED ARTICLES FROM ANY PUBLISHER ARTICLE REPRINTS PUBLISHED IN 2016 IN REAL TIME MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 7

2016 KEY FIGURES

86,521 days articles published since the foundation of MDPI in 1996 27.5from submission to first decision 58,575 23,568 submissions received in 2016 papers published 128,805 35 % peer-review reports received in 2016 company growth in 2016 based on published papers

15,700 68 days academic editors from submission to publication MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 8

>papers posted 800 on Preprints.org 18new journals in the MDPI journal portfolio (by end of 2016)

employees 273academic events sponsored by MDPI in 2016, including travel 455in seven locations (Switzerland, China, Spain and Serbia) grants to Editors-in-Chiefs and Editorial Board Members

Papers Published in MDPI Journals by Region

Asia ( excl. China ) Europe 33 % 17 % North America China 18 % 24 % Africa & Middle East Australia & South America New Zealand 2 % 2 % 4 % MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 9

Major Journal Growth Based on Articles Published Indexing Applied Sciences + 258 % 142 Crystals + 213 % journals reevaluated and accepted by DOAJ Metals + 104 % 85 Genes + 101 % journals indexed in Web of Science Micromachines + 83 % 58 IJGI + 80 % journals indexed in ESCI

Growth Based on Articles Published

Articles 25000 25,000

20,000 35% 20000 15000 15,000 40% 34% 10000 10,000 31% 50% 14% Australia & 5000 5000 76% New Zealand 107% 4 % 0 0 MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 10

Publication by Subject Area

24 % Chemistry & Materials Science 15 % Medicine & Pharmacology 13 % Environmental & Earth Sciences 12 % Engineering 12 % Physical Sciences 11 % Biology & Life Sciences 5 % Public Health & Healthcare 3 % Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities 3 % Business & Economics 2 % Computer Science & Mathematics

Open Access Publishers – Market Share in 2016

Number of Published Articles Market Share in Percentage

SpringerSpringer Nature Nature 41,821 26.88 % PublicPublic Library Library of Scienceof Science (PLoS) (PLOS) 26,376 16.96 % MDPIMDPI 23,555 15.14 % FrontiersFrontiers Media Media SA SA 19,439 12.50 % HindawiHindawi Limited Limited 18,004 11.57 % CopernicusCopernicus GmbH GmbH 9045 5.81 % BMJBMJ 2064 1.33 % PeerJPeerJ 1356 0.87 % AOSISAOSIS 1303 0.84 % ElsevierElsevier BV BV 1289 0.83 % OthersOthers 11,301 7.27 %

Quality of Service

8213 Reviewers 1402 Authors rated our publishing service as rated our publishing service as

42 % excellent      81 % excellent     

48 % good     16 % good    

7 % reasonable    2 % reasonable   

3 % can be improved   1 % can be improved  

Source: MDPI author and reviewer surveys, Q1 – Q4, 2016 MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 11

Geographical Distribution of Authors and Reviewers

Reviewers Authors

Asia ( excl. China ) Asia ( excl. China ) Europe Europe North America 42 % 16 % North America 39 % 4 % 30 % China 17 % China Africa & 3 % Africa & 31 % Australia & Middle East Middle East Australia & South America New Zealand South America New Zealand 1 % 1 % 7 % 3 % 2 % 4 %

Overview of Access to MDPI.com 90 % 10 % desktop access mobile access

36,801,813 32,648,052 Annual Page Views PDF Downloads 15,168,300 8,748,610 1,524,595 Sessions Users Mobile Users MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 12

NEW JOURNALS IN 2016

biomimetics data

Editor-in-Chief: Editor-in-Chief: Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Dr. Josep Samitier Prof. Dr. Antonio Bianconi Dr. Jamal Jokar Arsanjani Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia Rome International Center for Materials Aalborg University Copenhagen, Denmark (IBEC), Spain Science Superstripes (RICMASS), Italy

drones fishes fluids

Editor-in-Chief: Editor-in-Chief: Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Diego Gonzalez-Aguilera Prof. Dr. Maria Angeles Esteban Prof. Dr. Bekir S. Yilbas University of Salamanca, Spain University of Murcia, Spain King Fahd University of Petroleum and Min- erals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia

geriatrics infrastructures inventions

Editor-in-Chief: Editor-in-Chief: Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Dr. Ralf Lobmann Dr. Pedro Arias-Sánchez Prof. Dr. Shoou-Jinn Chang Clinical Centre Stuttgart, Germany University of Vigo, Spain National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan

Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology languages philosophies

Editor-in-Chief: Editor-in-Chief: Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Musumeci Prof. Dr. Usha Lakshmanan Prof. Dr. Marcin J. Schroeder University of Catania, Italy Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA Akita International University, Japan

International Journal of recycling sinusitis Turbomachinery Propulsion and Power

Editor-in-Chief: Editor-in-Chief: Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Dr. Michele Rosano Prof. Dr. César Picado Prof. Marcello Manna Curtin University Perth, Australia University of Barcelona, Spain Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy

Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease

Society Journals Transferred to MDPI in 2016

Scientia Pharmaceutica Mathematical and Computational Applications

Editor-in-Chief: Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Dr. Helmut Viernstein Prof. Dr. Fazal M. Mahomed University of Vienna, Austria University of Witwatersrand, South Africa MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 13

SUSY

MDPI Susy – A Complete Submission System

MDPI has been a pioneer of academic, peer-reviewed Susy incorporates the full production process: open access publishing since 1996, with over 160 open access journals across all scientific fields. Two of our major strengths are the speed and the simplicity of our File delivery Copy editing Cross-check editorial process. We now offer our submission system, via Susy API Susy, to other journals in order to widen our support to Author stakeholders. XML conversion English editing proofreading

Susy is a comprehensive, web-based software that allows editors to handle the entire publishing process, from ini- XML quality control PDF production File and data delivery tial submission to publication, including peer-review, pro- duction, and invoicing of open access APCs. The software Files and matadata to has been built with flexibility in mind, to accommodate indexing services the needs of a broad range of journals.

We also offer 6 days peer week support from our editorial and production staff. The main features of our publishing Contact services cover: For enquiries and quotations, please contact Dr. Martyn Rittman ▶ [email protected]. • Article submission • Peer review and editorial decisions • Author revision and resubmission • Invoicing of article processing charges • Two of our major strengths are the speed and the sim- plicity • Different levels of access for staff members, including editorial board members, handling editors, managing editors and company managers. MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 14

PARTNERING WITH INSTITUTIONS AND SOCIETIES

Institutional Membership Partnerships with Societies

The MDPI Institutional Membership Program grants affili- Lasting Partnership ated authors a discount of up to 25 % on Article Process- One of MPDI’s longest lasting partnerships is with the In- ing Charges. Since the program was launched in 2013, ternational Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sens- over 150 memberships have been established. In 2016, ing (ISPRS), established in 2011 for the publication of the the number of members, of which all are notable inter- International Journal of Geo-Information (IJGI), short ISPRS national universities and institutions, increased from 88 IJGI. to 153. With over 20 year’s experience in scholarly peer-reviewed Our Institutional Members: publishing, we provide technical infrastructure and edito- rial know-how covering: • Conversion to open access 153 • Editorial handling of manuscripts • Fast editorial procedure

88 • Fast and easy-to-use platform, www.mdpi.com • Advice on strategic development • High visibility • Automated metadata exchange • Indexing and abstracting services 2015 2016 • Marketing and promotion of the journal • Long-term preservation • Hosting the journal back-file • Retaining ownership • Reviewer benefits • Optional and customized services

MDPI shares the responsibility for the promotion of the journal with the scientific community, and bears the costs associated with the production of printed promotional material of the journal. MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 15

Number of Papers Published in ISPRS IJGI New Society Partnerships in 2016 In 2016, MDPI started several collaborations with societies and other scientific institutions: 140% • With the European Turbomachinery Society (Euroturbo, www.euroturbo.eu) for the publication of their new journal International Journal of Turbomachinery, Propul- 79% sion and Power (IJTPP). 58% • With the Austrian Pharmacological Society (Öster- reichische Pharmazeutische Gesellschaft, www.oephg. 18% eu) for the publication of their existing journal Scientia 1% Pharmaceutica. 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 • With the Australasian College of Tropical Medicine (ACTM, www.tropmed.org) and its Joint Faculties of Travel Medicine (www.travelmedicine.org.au) and Expedition Source: Sciforum (Based on Cross-Ref Data); mdpi.com/journal/ijgi/ and Wilderness Medicine for the publication of the new stats journal Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease.

Through the partnership with MDPI, ISPRS benefits from MDPI also signed a Publishing Agreement with the Insti- exposure to a broader scientific community, and has tute of Otorhinolaryngology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical gained increasing visibility over the past years: College, Huazhong University of Science & Technology to set up the Journal of Otorhinolaryngology, Hearing and Full-Text and Abstract Views Past 6 Months Trend Balance Medicine to be started in 2017. 2016 2017* Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan* For more detailed information, please contact Abstract 20,301 28,918 27,323 24,378 31,074 25,540 Delia Mihaila ▶ [email protected].

Full Text 17,748 29,079 36,988 34,797 39,761 32,297

Full-Text and Abstract Views per Year Trend

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017*

Abstract 10,156 44,700 102,848 167,069 251,442 25,540

Full Text 6456 32,807 109,636 235,052 320,509 32,297

* data as of 31 January 2017 MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 16

JOURNAL DEVELOPMENT *

Papers Papers Impact Factor SCIE - Web of Publication Change from Citations Published Published 2015 ( 2016 Science Journals Growth Previous Year in 2015 in 2016 in 2015 release )

IJMS 2166 1743 ▲ + 24.3 % 3.257 14 % 18,190 Molecules 1769 1385 ▲ + 27.7 % 2.465 2 % 17,613 Sensors 2237 1666 ▲ + 34.3 % 2.033 - 9 % 15,836 IJERPH 1210 1090 ▲ + 11.0 % 2.035 - 1 % 6062 Marine Drugs 231 384 ▼ ‒ 39.8 % 3.345 17 % 5437 Materials 1036 593 ▲ + 74.7 % 2.728 3 % 5262 Remote Sensing 1035 788 ▲ + 31.3 % 3.036 - 5 % 5061 Nutrients 840 620 ▲ + 35.5 % 3.759 15 % 4084 Energies 1106 744 ▲ + 48.7 % 2.077 0 % 3704 Viruses 332 367 ▼ ‒ 9.5 % 3.042 - 9 % 3445 Toxins 379 345 ▲ + 9.9 % 3.571 22 % 2929 Sustainability 1363 862 ▲ + 58.1 % 1.343 43 % 2301 Entropy 459 453 ▲ + 1.3 % 1.743 16 % 2099 Polymers 443 154 ▲ + 187.7 % 2.944 - 20 % 1837 Water 606 357 ▲ + 69.7 % 1.687 18 % 1035 Forests 329 250 ▲ + 31.6 % 1.583 9 % 686 Genes 146 73 ▲ + 100 % 3.242 182 % 545 Catalysts 219 135 ▲ + 62.2 % 2.964 48 % 502 Nanomaterials 245 136 ▲ + 80.1 % 2.690 30 % 436 Micromachines 241 132 ▲ + 82.6 % 1.295 2 % 404 Symmetry 162 147 ▲ + 10.2 % 0.841 2 % 317 Crystals 167 133 ▲ + 25.6 % 2.075 – 273 Atmosphere 161 104 ▲ + 54.8 % 1.221 8 % 240 Applied Sciences 472 132 ▲ + 257.6 % 1.726 16 % 238 Metals 327 166 ▲ + 97 % 1.574 78 % 234 Minerals 132 55 ▲ + 140 % 1.500 50 % 134 ISPRS IJGI 251 140 ▲ + 79.3 % 0.651 – 133

Journals Tracked for IF

Cancers 110 136 ▼ ‒ 19.1 % – – – Coatings 77 57 ▲ + 35.1 % – – –

* All data as per Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters). MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 17

Journal Rankings by Quartile in Science Citation Index Expanded ( SCIE ) *

Quartile Journals Ranking Category

Q1 Materials 63 / 271 MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY Metals 18 / 73 METALLURGY & METALLURGICAL ENGINEERING Nanomaterials 64 / 271 MATERIALS SCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY Nutrients 16 / 80 NUTRITION & DIETETICS Polymers 20 / 85 POLYMER SCIENCE Remote Sensing 5 / 28 REMOTE SENSING Sensors 12 / 56 INSTRUMENTS & INSTRUMENTATION Toxins 16 / 90 TOXICOLOGY Q2 Applied Sciences 129 / 271 MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY 64 / 145 PHYSICS, APPLIED Catalysts 53 / 144 CHEMISTRY, PHYSICAL Crystals 101 / 271 MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY 13 / 26 CRYSTALLOGRAPHY Energies 43 / 88 ENERGY & FUELS Entropy 25 / 79 PHYSICS, MULTIDISCIPLINARY Forests 19 / 66 FORESTRY Genes 60 / 166 GENETICS & HEREDITY IJERPH 101 / 225 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES IJMS 110 / 289 BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 134 / 289 CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY Marine Drugs 13 / 59 CHEMISTRY, MEDICINAL Metals 145 / 271 MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY Minerals 14 / 29 MINERALOGY 9 / 21 MINING & MINERAL PROCESSING Molecules 24 / 59 CHEMISTRY, ORGANIC Nanomaterials 36 / 83 NANOSCIENCE & NANOTECHNOLOGY Sensors 36 / 75 CHEMISTRY, ANALYTICAL 16 / 27 ELECTROCHEMISTRY Symmetry 31 / 63 MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES Viruses 14 / 33 VIROLOGY Water 33 / 85 WATER RESOURCES Q3 Applied Sciences 83 / 163 CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY Micromachines 30 / 56 INSTRUMENTS & INSTRUMENTATION Sustainability 62 / 104 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES - SSCI Q4 Atmosphere 66 / 84 METEOROLOGY & ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES ISPRS IJGI 45 / 49 GEOGRAPHY, PHYSICAL 26 / 28 REMOTE SENSING Micromachines 63 / 83 NANOSCIENCE & NANOTECHNOLOGY Sustainability 5 / 6 GREEN & SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGY - SSCI

* Source: www.mdpi.com/about/announcements/720. MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 18

CONFERENCES IN 2016

Viruses 2016

The conference Viruses 2016 – At the Forefront of Virus – Host tries including Australia, China, Croatia, Iran, the Nether- Interactions was held in Basel from January 26 to 28, 2016. lands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates. A total of 186 participants attended, from over 30 different countries: Switzerland 21 %, Germany 10 %, France 8%, The 2nd edition Viruses 2018 – Breakthroughs in Viral Repli- United Kingdom 6 %, United States 6 %, Italy 5 %, Austria cation will be held in Barcelona from February 7 to 9, 2018. 3 %, as well as participants from a number of other coun- MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 19

1st Basel Sustainability Forum on Energy

The 1st Basel Sustainability Forum on Energy was held in Basel on October 14, 2016. The conference attracted 98 participants from Switzerland, France and Germany. The 2nd Basel Sustainability Forum on Mobility will be held in Basel on September 15, 2017.

Images: Matthias Burkhalter MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 20

SPECIAL ISSUE REPRINTS RELEASED IN 2016

Our top five in 2016 (physical copy): Our top five in 2016 (digital copy):

Journal of Clinical Medicine Children iPS Cells for Modelling and Treatment of The Role of Play in Children’s Health and Human Diseases Development edited by Edel Michael edited by Navidi Ute

Catalysts Inorganics Advances in Catalyst Deactivation Polyoxometalates edited by Bartholomew Calvin edited by Patzke Greta and Car Pierre-Em- and Argyle Morris manuel

Marine Drugs Biomolecules Advances in Marine Chitin and Chitosan Oxidative Stress in Health and Disease edited by Harding David edited by Breitenbach Michael and Eckl and Sashiwa Hitoshi Peter

Atmosphere Water Air Quality and Source Apportionment Hydro-Ecological Modeling edited by Sheesley Rebecca edited by Breuer Lutz and Kraft Philipp

Atmosphere Humanities Atmospheric Composition Observations Deep Mapping edited by Sorooshian Armin edited by Roberts Les

▶ More information: www.mdpi.com/books MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 21

CONTRIBUTING TO THE OPEN ACCESS INITIATIVE

In January 2017, MDPI signed the expression of interest in support of the OA 2020 initiative. The OA2020 was established by the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (Germany) and supports the large-scale transition to open access by trans- forming the existing corpus of scientific journals from their current subscrip- tion system to open access.

▶ More information: https://oa2020.org/mission/#other MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 22

CONFERENCES IN 2017

World Sustainability Forum 2017, Although, to date, the most studied non-coding RNAs WSF 2017 (Cape Town) (ncRNAs) are miRNAs, the importance of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) is increasingly being recognized. At this The World Sustainability Forum 2017, held at the end of conference “Non-Coding RNAs and Epigenetics in Can- January 2017 in South Africa, contributes to interna- cer”, leaders in the field will present the roles of miRNAs tional debates on sustainability and enables a dialogue and lncRNAs in cancer, with a focus on the recently identi- fied novel mechanisms of action, and discuss the current strategies in designing ncRNA-targeting therapeutics, as well as the associated challenges. ▶ sciforum.net/conference/ncRNA-Cancer

International Symposium on Sensor Science, I3S2017 (Barcelona) between academia and industry. It sensitizes the inter- From robots and self-driving cars to on-site medical di- national community about the urgency, specifics, and agnostics, the exciting advances in today’s technology existent knowledge base of sustainability on the African require sensors. Biologists, engineers, physicists and continent, and the African research community to inter- national perspectives on sustainability. The next few decades will be marked by a profound engagement in sustainability research and policy – and Africa is profoundly influencing and being influenced by global developments. MDPI provides a platform for re- searchers, practitioners, and policy makers to engage with this topic. ▶ sciforum.net/conference/wsf-6 chemists are working to provide these sensors. This con- ference, supported by the journal Sensors, brings togeth- International Symposium on Frontiers in er scientists from different disciplines to discuss recent Molecular Sciences 2017, ISFMS 2017 (Basel) developments in sensor technology. ▶ sciforum.net/conference/i3s2017Barcelona One of the most unexpected and fascinating discoveries in oncology over the past decade has been the interplay Molecules between abnormalities in protein-coding genes and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), which are causally involved in ▶ sciforum.net/conference/MMCS2017 cancer initiation, progression, and dissemination. Symmetry

▶ sciforum.net/conference/symmetry2017

2nd Basel Sustainability Forum

▶ sciforum.net/conference/BSF-2 MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 23

Photos from the World Sustainability Forum 2017, WSF 2017

1: World Sustainability Award 2: Thandi Mgwebi, Jeffrey Sachs, Sonia Ehrlich Sachs and Franck Vazquez (from left to right) 3: Jeffrey Sachs accepting the World Sustainability Award 4: Delegates at WSF 2017 All images by Matthias Burkhalter 1

2 3

4 MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 24

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AT MDPI

In November 2016, MDPI became a member of the United As a global publishing house, we see it as our duty to de- Nations Global Compact to support corporate sustain- velop responsible practices that will ensure a bright fu- ability. We have committed ourselves to the ten principles ture for our planet. Based on our purpose and company associated with the Compact. scope, we aim to focus on three UN Sustainability Devel- opment Goals:

Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and quality education for Global University Mentor for Agriculture. Xiaosong Hu is a all and promote lifelong learning professor at the Chongqing University in China and spe- In 2016, we announced the World Sus- cializes in automotive control systems and mechanical tainability Award and the Emerging Sus- engineering. tainability Leader Award to encourage World Sustainability Foundation: http://wsforum.org new initiatives and developments in Press release: ▶ www.mdpi.com/about/announcements/961 sustainability. Both awards are bound to the ultimate aim to foster the transfer from sustainability research to sustain- Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all able practices and societies. women and girls Since the foundation of MDPI two dec- Recipients of the World Sustainability Award (USD ades ago, we have provided our staff with equal opportunities to grow and 100,000) develop their career. At MDPI, we foster Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs and Dr. Sonia Ehrlich Sachs gender equality and refuse any form of were the joint recipients of the first World Sustainabili- discrimination against women at work. ty Award at the end of January 2017. Jeffrey Sachs is a We support women in management po- world-renowned economist and senior United Nations sitions: (UN) advisor and director of the Earth Institute at Colum- 50 % of MDPI Management are women. bia University. Sonia Sachs is a pediatrician and public ▶ www.mdpi.com/about/team health specialist, and director of the Health Centre at the Centre for Sustainable Development, also at Columbia Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote University. sustainable industrialization and foster innovation Being an academic open access pub- Winners of the Emerging Sustainability Leader lisher, we support innovation by nature. Award (USD 10,000) In comparison to a traditional publish- The joint recipients of the first Emerging Sustainability ing house, we produce less printed out- Leader Award were Dr. Esther Ngumbi and Dr. Xiaosong put and impact the environment in a Hu. Esther Ngumbi is a postdoctoral researcher at Auburn sustainable and positive way. University in Alabama, USA and served as a 2015 Clinton MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 25

ABOUT MDPI

Being a pioneer in academic open access publishing, we exchange in its various forms, across all scientific disci- have focused on serving and strengthening the scientific plines. community since 1996. The driving principles behind everything that we do are Our main purpose is to provide a valuable service to the following: academic scholars. Our mission is to foster scientific

Accessibility Flexibility We offer access to science and the latest research to In a changing and evolving publishing environment, we readers for free. All of our content is published in open ac- are constantly adapting and developing new tools and cess and distributed under a Creative Commons License, services. By listening to feedback from authors, editors which means free distribution and the right to share and and readers, we can make changes to better meet the re-use published articles. needs of our research community and keep MDPI rele- vant.

Speed We publish fast to ensure the latest research is rapidly dis- Simplicity seminated, using thorough, precise editorial work. A first All of our tools and services can be found in one place and decision is provided to authors in under 32 days; once ac- prioritize user-friendliness. Simple processes keep our cepted, papers are published in 7 – 10 days. editorial process highly efficient.

Service Sustainability We aim to provide a service that supports scholars In addition to being a key theme in our journals, we and their work. By offering a range of different options, support sustainability by ensuring the long-term pres- including journal publication at mdpi.com, early publi- ervation of published papers, and the future of science cation at preprints.org and conferences on Sciforum, we through partnerships, sponsorships and awards. support scientific communities worldwide to make a pos- itive impact on research. MDPI ANNUAL REPORT 2016 26

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blog.mdpi.com Published by MDPI Communications and Marketing Department St. Alban-Anlage 66 4052 Basel, Switzerland Tel: +41 61 683 77 34 Fax: +41 61 302 89 18 ▶ www.mdpi.com March 2017